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These two have been fighting for sales supremacy in the hotly contested executive-sedan segment for decades, and they’ve sparred in nearly as many magazine comparison tests as have the Mustang and Camaro. The lead has swapped back and forth from time to time, and just as the Camaro owns the winning record in the ponywars, BMW has finished ahead of Mercedes more often. But each time one of the players rejiggers its formula, it’s a brand-new game. Last year’s E-Class reboot marked a welcome return to Mercedes-Benz’s “designed to a standard, not to a price” ethos, with vastly improved fit, finish, materials, and general solidity. In the bargain, it delivered world-class aerodynamics and held the line on weight, which helped improve performance and fuel efficiency. And yet in February’s eight-car match-up, the Mercedes finished two places behind the test-winning lame-duck 535i. So why read on? Surely the new and improved 5 is a slam-dunk winner, right?

Not so fast. If you’ll recall, the last redesign of the 5 was not universally acclaimed as a great leap forward. Some of its electronic chassis aids (like Active Steering) were accused of robotizing the driving experience, the Gen-1 iDrive drew criticism, and the Dame-Edna-bespectacled face and flame-surfaced styling did not appeal to all eyes. This 2011 5 Series arrives bearing a whole new round of electronic driving aids, and it’s been upsized substantially and gained a disconcerting amount of weight-factory figures indicate the new base car weighs 250 pounds more than our well-equipped February test car (unfortunately, there was no opportunity to weigh our loaded 535i test car at the vehicle’s launch in Portugal). So rather than passing judgment on the new 5 after driving it all by itself on roads BMW selected for its launch, we procured a German-spec Mercedes-Benz E350 CGI BlueEfficency sedan for a comparison of these two two-ton Teutons back to back on roads of our choosing in the hills and on the flats surrounding Lisbon.

First a small caveat about that unfamiliar nomenclature appended to our E-Class. In Europe, where there are too many governments for oil-industry lobbyists to effectively stonewall clean-fuels legislation, the gasoline is sufficiently free of sulfur to permit direct-injection gas engines to run lean, using a special de-NOx catalyst (which would be poisoned by our dirty gasoline). Hence the Euro-spec E350 CGI produces 20 more horsepower and 11 pound-feet more twist than our stoichiometric version can. Our Euro-Benz also wore summer tires, which probably accounts for most of the 10-foot difference in braking performance relative to our U.S.-spec test car. Our spec chart shows the performance results of February’s U.S.-spec E350, with the CGI data in parentheses. Beyond that, the two cars were very closely matched in equipment and price (when applying U.S. pricing to the Euro-Benz).

As the BMW is the debutante, let’s review what’s new here. In hopes of making its electronic assistants less conspicuous, engineers sought to unburden them by improving the car’s fundamental powertrain and chassis behavior. Two cases in point:

The 535i’s all new twin-scroll single-turbo engine with Valvetronic throttling is inherently quicker to respond while delivering improved performance and fuel economy. And the suspension kinematics have been radically altered so the car will inherently corner better without any electronic help. The switch away from MacPherson struts to an upper-control arm/lower lateral and diagonal link setup in front is largely responsible for this transformation. The link geometry enables a roll axis that’s parallel to and just 3.1 inches above the ground, for an inherently flatter cornering attitude (struts force a downward-sloping roll axis that encourages a rear-high cornering attitude). Those front links also permit more camber change during cornering than is possible with struts, which keeps the tires pressed to the ground better so less stability assistance is required. And decoupling the damper from the suspension geometry allows the shock’s piston rod to shrink in diameter, leaving more space for shock valving and allowing the adaptive damping system a wider range of authority in jounce/rebound damping.

Elsewhere, experience has helped make the electrons do their job less noticeably. For instance, BMW engineers claim it is now easier to program the steering feel they want into electric assist than it was with hydraulic assist.

There’s a lot to these cars, so let’s start with a thorough walk-around. The enlarged 5’s wheelbase is 3.8 inches longer than the Benz’s and its bumpers are 1.4 inches farther apart, but it’s 2.7 inches narrower and identical in height. Inside the BMW gets 2.6 inches more front headroom, a half-inch less rear shoulder room, and 2.5 cubic feet more trunk space, but they’re otherwise closely matched. The Benz’s cushier back seat was deemed more comfortable by a noticeable margin. Both interiors are gorgeous, sumptuous cocoons. The BMW’s sculpted wood and interesting dash forms look more adventurous by day, while the Mercedes’ moody ambient lighting scheme wins at night.

Both cars featured a full suite of optional safety aids like collision warning, lane-change and lane-departure warnings, and radar cruise control and (amazingly enough) these systems did not nag intrusively (as is too often the case). Plus, these gizmos can be switched off and will then stay off during successive restarts, as they should (Infiniti and Lincoln, are you listening?). And iDrive, with its constellation of direct-access function keys, is now far more user-friendly, though we still suspect that technophobes will find Mercedes’ COMAND system easier to master.

One point of infuriation remains on the BMW, however: The shifter won’t engage a gear unless you fully depress the little release button on the side before you begin to move the shifter at all. This becomes increasingly difficult to remember and execute when traffic is bearing down on what had seemed like a very safe three-point U-turn as the engine keeps zinging in Neutral.

On the performance front, there is no contest at all. The turbo-Bimmer sprints to 60 mph in just 5.6 seconds, outrunning the U.S. E350 by a full second-a lead that quadruples by 120 mph. It essentially runs neck and neck with its lighter predecessor too, thanks largely to the BMW’s 7000-rpm redline and eight closely spaced gear ratios. This transmission also serves the BMW much better in the hills, being slightly quicker to respond to throttle kick-downs (both have steering-wheel paddles that summon gear changes swiftly).

It must be noted here too that there probably isn’t a V-6 on earth-and certainly not a 90-degree one-that can match the sweet, sonorous music of a proper straight-six-even when it’s partially muzzled by a turbo. We were unable to conduct any limit handling tests, but a four-foot advantage in braking from 60 mph went to the BMW (at 109 feet, comparing the two summer-tired cars).

Naturally both cars feel sure-footed and stable while tearing down the open highway at a hundred and plenty, preserving cabin volume levels quiet enough for sustaining “inside-voice” conversations, though it was felt the Mercedes admitted a bit more road/tire noise than the BMW. And the BMW’s 10-inch high-definition 3D navigation screen ($1900) certainly adds pizzazz to any journey, as does the multicolor, multifunction head-up display (add another $1200), which remains visible, though a bit faint, even with polarized sunglasses on.

The Mercedes distinguished itself in the hills by hanging right with the BMW through the tightest twisties, routing impressive levels of road feel up through the wheel and maintaining reasonable body-motion control with its fully passive suspension (only the E550 V-8s get ride-adjustable AirMatic suspenders). Its transmission is slower reacting (except when manually shifted), however, and rough undulating corners occasionally flummox the chassis and send the body bounding around disconcertingly.

Climb into the 535i, and it’s hard to believe the two cars weigh the same. There’s a bit less heft to the controls, and g-forces in any direction seem to build with less resistance and less effort. Combining Active Steering with the Sport Package (Driving Dynamics Control, Active Roll Stabilization, and adaptive damping-figure $4500 together) gives the car incredibly sharp responses that make it feel light and nimble, especially in the Sport + setting, which eliminates virtually all body roll. The level of feedback at the helm feels much closer to that of the benchmark E39 5er. Dialing back to Normal mode approximates the roll-control and ride quality of the steel-sprung Benz, while engaging Comfort mode seems to carpet the BMW’s path in a lush Berber. In the ride/handling category, the nod has to go the BMW (though they’re close enough that we wouldn’t bet against an AirMatic Benz in a V-8 rematch).

With pricing and equipment levels so close, one could call the value proposition a draw, though it must be pointed out that some of the BMW’s valuable chassis aids are not available from Mercedes at all. In their place, our E350 sported curve-hugging Drive-Dynamic Sport Contour seats, a panorama sunroof, and a cool night-vision system that can identify pedestrians (BMW offers this too). Styling is completely subjective and hence hardly worth delving into here, though one has to admit some of the light-pipe tricks decorating the front and rear of the BMW are pretty cool when compared with the increasingly familiar thousand-points-of-light LED setups on the Benz.

So which one wins? Each is so well-tailored to its own target owner groups that neither seems likely to lure away the faithful of the other brand, but if you’re reading this publication with an open mind that’s not swayed by intangibles like brand cachet, we expect you’re going to prefer the lighter-feeling, livelier-driving BMW, so that one gets the nod this time around.

EPA MPG

Safety (NHTSA)

Horsepower

2011 BMW 5-Series News and Reviews

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